Dual augering machine



Oct. 1966 G. ADAMS ETAL 3,278,236

DUAL AUGERING MACHINE gmmim gfifi C'HA miss TTGO VIN 2 Sheets-Sheet 1Original Filed June 20. 1960 THEME A 7' TOIQNEY Oct. 11, 1966 G. L.ADAMS ETAL 2 DUAL AUGERING MACHINE Original Filed June 20, 1960 2Sheets-Sheet 2 NVENTORS GEOEGE 1. Am M5 By Ckmmas 71' Q0 VIA! %%f 774519 A? T70 ENE v United States Patent 3,278,236 DUAL AUGERING MACHINEGeorge L. Adams, Salem, Ohio, and Charles T. Goviu, Wauwatosa, Wis.(both Salem Tool Company, Salem, Ohio) Original application June 20,1960, Ser. No. 37,490, now Patent No. 3,091,439, dated May 28, 1963.Divided and this application July 5, 1962, Ser. No. 207,637

3 Claims. (Cl. 299-55) This invention is a division of applicationSerial No. 37,490, filed June 20, 1960, for Dual Auger Mining Machine.

This invention relates generally to anger mining machines and moreparticularly to an auger mining machine.

The principal object of this invention is the provision of automaticlocking means that permit interengagement and locking of adjacent augersections together with a release for detachable securing either end ofeach auger section when it is to be removed or disengaged from the driveof the mining machine. This materially aids in decreasing the time inchanging angers or loading or unloading auger sections which representsthe nonproductive time of the mining machine. This also includes adevice for pre-setting each of the auger strings so that they may bereleased or uncoupled from their adjacent coupling by machine. Thisrelease may also be augmented by providing an arcuate shoe on therelease mechanism to insure engagement with the release pins within areasonable tolerance of misalignment of the auger sections in theirrotary position.

Other objects and advantages appear hereinafter in the followingdescription and claims.

The accompanying drawings show for the purpose of exemplificationwithout limiting the claims thereto, certain practical embodimentsillustrating the principles of this invention wherein:

FIG. 1 is a side elevation of the angering machine.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged plan view of the cutting head and the initialangering sections.

FIG. 3 is a view in side elevation showing the front and rear augerlatch release mechanisms.

Referring to FIG. 1 of the drawings the angering machine consists of theframe 1 constructed of a pair of longitudinally disposed parallelI-beams 3 joined by a plurality of channel members 4 0n the under sidethereof and connected by the continuous belly .plate 5 that extends fromone I-beam to another and is braced by a series of brace plates. Theouter face of the I-beams 3 are provided with the outboard brace plates7 along the sides of the frame to provide for the walkways 8. The framemembers 10 which consist of the raiser posts 11, the cross members 12and the longitudinal beam 13 function to support the auger baflle frame16 as well as the four vertical jacks 17 in the riser tubes 11. Thevertical lifting jacks 17 are capable of lifting the whole of themachine and their large disc type feet are enabled to be raised abovethe skids 18 which support the mining machine for guiding movement andtravel along the ground. The underside of the skids 18 represent thelowermost surface of the mining machine when the jacks 17 are retracted.These skids are retained to the under side of the frame 1 by brackets,not shown and the frame 1 in turn is provided with rollers 29 to supportthe movement of the frame on the skids.

The belly plate 5 supports the auger sections 20. These auger sectionsare couped to the mining head shown in detail in FIGS. 2 and 3 whereinthe first auger section is preferably provided with a tread section 23.The auger 20 is provided with the cutting head 26. The forward end ofeach auger section is preferably provided with a nonround pin to bereceived in the nonround socket of the cutting heads 26. The cuttinghead is provided with its own sectional flight 29 to feed the coal fromthe cutting head rearwardly to the auger flight section 20.

The rear pins of which will receive the ordinary flight sections of theaugers wherein the front of each auger section will be provided with asocket 41 and the rear of each auger section will be provided with asimilar pin 40 to mate with the nonround socket of the next succeedingauger section or the nonround coupling socket 41 on the drive. It willbe noted that these sockets have an outer nonround bore 42 to receivethe nonround end 43 of the pins 40. The sloping walls 38 of the nonroundbores 42 engage and depress the latch 44 biased by the spring 45 whichis set by the thread plug 46.

A socket 41 also carries a collar 47 that receives the unlatch pin 48which is provided with an annular flange 49 and is biased by the spring50. The outer surface of the flange is stopped by the split ring 51.When the unlatch pin 48 is depressed it will shove the latch 44 withinthe pin 40 and release the auger section carrying the pin 40 from thesocket 41. To perform this function the front auger latch release memberas illustrated in FIG. 3 is employed. This latch release is indicated bythe cam member 53 actuated by the cylinder 55 supported from the frame.When this cylinder is energized its piston is as shown in FIG. 1, andextends the cam surface 53 to engage the unlatch pin 48. While the camis thus extended holding the unlatching pins 48 depressed, the rearauger sections or the coupling 0n the drive are retracted to releasefrom the forward auger sections.

In similar manner the machine is provided With a rear auger latchrelease cylinder 58 which carry the cam section 59 for engaging theunlatch pins 48 on the driving coupling 60 which is bolted to thecoupling bit 61 attached to the drive shafts of their respectivegearboxes 62 and 63 as shown in FIG. 3. In order to actuate theautomatic front and rear latch release mechanisms it is necessary tostop the auger sections in a predetermined position which position asshown in FIG. 3 leaving the hole 64 in the center of the auger flight onthe top of the auger which permits the same to be engaged by hookmembers from the hoist lines 65.

The hoists 66 are positioned outwardly of the front lifting jacks 11 andare stepped in the deep tubular sockets 67. Each hoist is driven by achain from a sprocket on a shaft of the motor 71. Each hoist member 66thus may be made to swivel on its step bearing through 360 if necessary.The upper end of the hoist is provided with a bracket member 72 thatsupports the outwardly projecting box member 73 that slidably supportsthe boom member 74 that is guided by the box member 73 that functions asa track for the boom. The boom 74 is provided with a depending bracketto which is secured a piston extending from a cylinder, not shown, theopposite end of which is pivotally secured to the inner end of the box73. Thus by energizing the cylinder the piston moves the boom forwardlyfor the full length of the piston.

The boom is in turn provided with the cylinder 80 which is pivotallysecured as indicated at 81 to the boom and extending from its oppositeends is the piston 82 which carries a pulley 83 at its outer end or atthe back of the boom 74. A hoist line travels over the pulley 84 pivotedto the forward end of the boom 74 and travels backwardly over the top ofthe pulley 83 and returns to the anchor 85 on one of the brackets thatsupports the cylinder Within the boom. Thus when the cylinder 80 isenergized to retract the piston 82, the hook and the weight on the endof the hoist line 65 will descend and if it is necessary to extend theposition of this hook from the center of rotation of the hoist mast 66,the cylinder is energized to run the boom outwardly. Thus the hook isenabled to function within the varying radius of the center of rotationof the hoist mast 66 by the extension of the piston from the extensioncylinder and the hook is enabled to be raised and lowered by theextension and contraction of the piston 82 within the cylinder 80. Asshown in FIG. 1 the boom 74 can be swung outwardly at different radii toreceive and discharge auger sections from their loading position on themachine bed to the auger storage racks 86 of which there is one on eachside of the augering machine.

The auger storage frames 86 are provided to support four auger flightsin the bottom of the pile on which are stacked a row of three augersections which in turn provide with the extensible posts posts 93 forfour additional auger sections in the next level. If the posts 93 areextended any higher they can be made to stack a considerable number ofanger sections. However, as shown in FIG. 1 the augers are stacked inelevations but they may be increased or be reduced in number as theypyramid.

The racks 86 have secured to their under sides the rollers 94 which rideon the inner side of the top fiat surface of the skids 18, the outersides of which are occupied by the skid operating jacks 95.

Thus each of the hoists 66 with their expansible boom 74 may raise apair of augers from the storage racks 86 on each side of the frame 1 andswing them into position against the auger batfie 16 to steady andstraighten the same and then drop them down onto the bed plate withinthe guides 22 in proper position so that they may be readily coupled.Since the hoist openings 64 in each auger section properly locks theauger section when lowered to the bed plate they may be readily coupledwith the automatic latching means by merely moving the carriage forwardto connect the couplings at the rear and at the front of the newlyinserted auger section.

As shown in FIG. 1 a platform 97 is provided in front of the forwardlifting jacks and the hoist controls show three control levers for eachhoist for the purpose of swinging the hoist in either direction,extending or retracting the boom or raising and lowering the hoist line65. Above the platform 97 is a screen canopy 98 which protects the hoistoperator from falls from the face, high wall or hill. This also protectsthe forward end of the machine as well as the conveyor section indicatedat 100 which withdraws the coal as it is carried over the extensibleauger guide section 101 and drops onto the conveyor 100 from whence itis conducted to an elevating conveyor to a truck or other transportationmeans.

As shown in FIG. 1 in back of the gearbox is the chain drive 104 thatextends from the shaft driving the gearbox and thence through thecoupling 105 and the transmission 106 to the diesel engine 107. Anauxiliary powered diesel engine 108 is placed on the side of the machinefor operating a hydraulic pump that serves all of the hydraulicallyactuated controls. The controls for operating the auger sections andfeeding them forward is shown at the operator station 110 in FIG. 1.

We claim:

1. An auger mining machine having a frame supporting a rotary miningassembly operated by a feed and rotary drive means, the rotary miningassembly including auger sections connected by a pin and socket jointand a biased latch means, one of said sections having biased unlatchmeans in operative position to disengage said latch means, said rotarymining assembly with said auger sections being stopped in said frame atpredetermined rotary and longitudinal positions for changing augersections, and servomotor means mounted on said machine in position tooperate said prepositioned unlatch means to disengage said latch meansto permit separation of said auger section from said rotary miningassembly.

2. An auger mining machine having a frame supporting a rotary miningassembly operated by a feed and rotary drive means, the rotary miningassembly including auger sections connected by a pin and socket jointand a biased latch means, said sections having biased unlatch means inoperative position to disengage said latch means, said rotary miningassembly with said auger sections being stopped in said frame atpredetermined rotary and longitudinal positions for changing augersections, and servomotor means mounted on said machine in position tooperate said prepositioned unlatch means at opposite ends of aprepositioned auger section to disengage said latch means to permitseparation of said prepositioned auger section from said rotary miningassembly.

3. An auger mining machine comprising a mining machine frame, a rotaryauger mining assembly including a plurality of connected auger carriedby said frame to rotate and move said augers along said frame in mining,each auger having a pin of polygon cross section at one end and a matingsocket at the other end, and which also consists of a biased latchprojecting from each pin, a sloping bell surface in at least one face ofsaid polygon socket in the end of said socket to depress said latch whensaid pin in entering into said socket, an outwardly projecting unlatchmember on each socket aligned with said recess to force the latchtherefrom when depressed and a servomotor supported from said frame todepress said unlatch member to inturn push said latch out of said recessand unlock said pin from said joint, and wherein there are twoservomotors mounted adjacent opposite ends of augers in said miningassembly to release both ends of the auger, and a hoist to remove thesame.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,190,081 2/1940Pfauser 2871 19 2,474,360 6/ 1-949 Jimerson.

2,588,901 3/1952 Weikert 287--119 X 2,607,603 8/1952 Breuer et al 27976X 2,764,397 9/1956 Compton 299--56 2,846,093 8/1958 Densmore 85 X2,951,693 9/1960 Carothers 29955 2,969,243 1/ 1961 Drazick 279762,979,320 4/1961 Adams 17334 ERNEST R. PURSER, Primary Examiner.

BENJAMIN HERSH, CHARLES E. OCONNELL,

Examiners.

1. AN AUGER MINING MACHINE HAVING A FRAME SUPPORTING A ROTARY MININGASSEMBLY OPERATED BY A FEED AND ROTARY DRIVE MEANS, THE ROTARY MININGASSEMBLY INCLUDING AUGER SECTIONS CONNECTED BY A PIN AND SOCKET JOINTAND A BIASED LATCH MEANS, ONE OF SAID SECTIONS HAVING BIASED UNLATCHMEANS IN OPERATIVE POSITION TO DISENGAGE SAID LATCH MEANS, SAID ROTARYMINING ASSEMBLY WITH SAID AUGER SECTIONS BEING STOPPED IN SAID FRAME ATPREDETERMINED ROTARY AND LONGITUDINAL POSITIONS FOR CHANGING AUGERSECTIONS, AND SERVOMOTOR MEANS MOUNTED ON SAID MACHINE IN POSITION TOOPERATE SAID PREPOSITIONED UNLATCH MEANS TO DISENGAGE SAID LATCH MEANSTO PERMIT SEPARATION OF SAID AUGER SECTION FROM SAID ROTARY MININGASSEMBLY.